Writing for Xomba: An Update

A few months ago I joined Xomba, and recently wrote a review about my experiences on the site. When I first joined Xomba, I was full of high hopes, and expected great things from its earnings potential. I had read these fantastic claims about people making a living writing for Xomba, and I'm hoping to make a full time living from my online articles, so I was filled with optimism and eager to get started writing for the site.

As I started to work on Xomba, I felt frustrated because I was writing for the site, but earning next to nothing for my efforts. As I explained in my previous article about Xomba, writers don't get paid by Xomba for page views at the site. Instead, they share in ad revenues generated from clicks on Google AdSense advertisements displayed on Xomba pages. Those who participate in Xomba must insert their Google AdSense account number into their Xomba account, as earnings from Xomba are paid directly through Google AdSense.

As I wrote in my earlier article about Xomba, writers can post Xombytes, which are magazine quality articles of 150 words or more (the word count was recently increased from 100 to 150 words minimum), or Xomblurbs, which are social bookmarks of interesting photos, videos, websites and articles.

My Xomba Experience

I have to admit, it was certainly frustrating at first to see some really nice page views for my work on Xomba, but no income. I started out in my first weeks on Xomba posting just a few Xombytes, and a few more Xomblurbs. I was also frustrated when I found out there was an error that meant all my Xombytes didn't link back to my Xomba profile (I thought this error might decrease my earnings if readers couldn't find my Xombytes from my profile.)

When I wrote my review of Xomba, I had earned about 4 cents on the site in about two weeks, and I had received very few clicks. I was thinking about throwing in the towel at Xomba in favor of just spending all my time on sites like Triond and Associated Content, where I receive earnings from page views.

Despite the discouragement, this voice inside said to give Xomba more time. In one of my earliest months working on Triond I didn't even earn enough to qualify for the minimum 50 cent payment amount at PayPal! I've learned as an online writer that things often take time to build, so instead of giving up, I thought I'd still work on Xomba a little bit to see what might happen.

One day shortly after writing my last Xomba review, I logged into my Google AdSense to discover I had 35 cents in my account. Then another day, I had 95 cents in earnings. These figures seem small, but in my early days on Triond and Associated Content, I remember earning literally pennies in a month. Earning almost a dollar a day wasn't common for me, so I felt excited about these Xomba earnings.

Then I logged into my Google AdSense account on a Sunday afternoon to discover I had earned $3.88 the day before. I was really thrilled to discover that much money from my Xomba earnings. I do have a blog that displays AdSense, but I don't get much traffic because my blog is more of a personal journal, and I don't really monetize or promote my blog right now. I feel that most of the money in my Google AdSense account has been earned from working on Xomba.

Tips for Working on Xomba

If you'd like to give Xomba a try, here are some tips that I believe are working for me. So far I've been on Xomba just over a month and I've earned almost ten dollars. It takes a hundred dollars in AdSense earnings to qualify for a payout; however, I have a feeling I'm well on my way to reaching my first hundred dollars on Google AdSense.

As I write this review, I currently have 6 Xombytes and 28 Xomblurbs posted on Xomba. I find that I receive small revenues in my AdSense account each day, even though I haven't invested any time in social bookmarking my Xomba articles. Even though the error in my Xomba account means that my Xombytes aren't linked to my Xomba profile, I don't believe that has really hurt my revenues (because my most recent posts are featured on my profile page and my Xombytes are discoverable to readers by the way they are tagged).

Xomba lists the most popular tags on the site, so I try to create Xomblurbs around these popular tags as much as possible (for example, travel is a popular tag, so I've done some Xomblurbs about travel articles, making sure I also tag my Xomblurb with the word "travel"). I also try to create a wide variety of Xomblurbs on lots of different topics, hoping something will catch a reader's eye (and perhaps increase my revenues).

I decided to create some Xomblurbs about what I found interesting, things like fashion, or holidays. I think when you bookmark things on Xomba that you like, and write a little description to go with your Xomblurb, you can't go wrong. Readers will pick up on your enthusiasm and in my opinion, that will lead to more readers and increased earnings.

What's nice about Xomba is that you can bookmark your own articles from other sites. I often create Xomblurbs that link to my Triond articles, and I've seen Xomba members link to their blogs and websites. (Please note that creating Xomblurbs that link to your own Xombytes is strictly forbidden, and this is an important point to remember as you are working on Xomba).

Increasing the number of articles called "Xombytes" has also helped me increase my Xomba revenues. I find that the more of these articles I add on Xomba, the more money I seem to earn on the site. Xomba is a very social site, and it helps to post comments and feedback on other Xombytes and Xomblurbs. I've noticed that the more I comment, the more revenue appears (I think this is because it gets my profile out there so that other members can discover my work on Xomba).

I haven't had time yet to social bookmark my Xomba articles, but Xomba makes it easy for members to do so. Driving traffic to your Xomba pages by getting the word out about them is definitely a way to increase your earnings. I am beginning to think that Xomba might yield a nice passive income stream for me, if I am patient and give it time to develop. With this in mind, I'm trying to add about three to five Xombytes or Xomblurbs a day, just like Xomba recommends in its help pages.

I only give Xomba a little bit of my time and attention and I'm totally surprised that I've received AdSense earnings without a lot of effort on my part. If I added hundreds of pieces of content to Xomba, and increased my Xombytes and Xomblurbs, who knows what could happen? I'm starting to get excited by Xomba's potential (but checking my AdSense earnings throughout the day could become addictive!)

I wanted to update my earlier review about my experiences on Xomba with this new information. While Triond and Associated Content remain my favorite places to write for, and I intend to keep working on both these sites, I'm also going to keep up my work on Xomba. I'm surprised by the total turnaround in my income and the earnings so far. I think combining my earnings from page views with Google AdSense revenues is definitely the way to build a nice income stream as an online writer.